HARARE – The mining in- dustry is one of the major economic mainstays to an- chor the country towards an upper middle-income society by 2030.
Zim mining sector seeks to maintain profitability According to a recent sur- vey by the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe (CoMZ), 52 percent of the respondents project that their businesses’ profitability would improve next year.
“Mining executives are confident about the prof- itability prospects of their businesses in 2022, albeit lower than 2021 citing oper- ating costs, which they an- ticipate to increase,” said the chamber of mines.
A total of 28 percent of the respondents from the recent survey conducted across the country project that profit- ability prospects would re- main the same as this year while 20 percent predict that the situation will worsen next year.
Major cost drivers iden- tified by CoMZ were large- ly to do with procurement, labour, and electricity. “Among other costs were amortisation, external contractors, and Statuto- ry parents,” CoMZ said. It said procurement was the major allotment from revenues generated in the mining industry.
The respondents also de- clared that they distributed their revenues as follows: sal- aries and wages 23 percent, Government taxes (18 per- cent), and communities (six percent).
In terms of employment prospects, about 55 percent of the respondents indicat- ed that they were likely to improve the number of their employees in 2022.
This is on the back of im- provements in the Covid-19 management as well as some expansion projects, which are expected to trigger the hiring of more workers.
More than 70 percent of employees registered under the National Em- ployment Council for the mining industry have been vaccinated against the Covid-19 pandemic. The NEC for the mining indus- try has over 45, 000 miners. Zimbabwe’s mining sector is expected to grow by 3.4 per- cent this year before propel- ling to eight percent in 2022 as the country continues to leverage its mineral resourc- es to achieve the desired growth in line with the US$12 billion milestone by 2023. – The Herald, Zimbabwe
